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The dark side of fairy tales comes to life in True Cinderella, a new collection by Liza Espinoza-Achurra of Salon Fluxx.

Taking on the darker side of the well-known fairy tale Cinderella, stylist Liza Espinoza-Achurra of Salon Fluxx in Naperville, IL, created hair fit for characters that have much more on their minds than fairy godmothers and pumpkins. “Many people don’t know that the story really revolves around a girl mourning the death of her mother and that there’s a fair amount of gore,” Espinoza-Achurra says. She worked closely with costume designer, Rachel Sara Goldberg, to tell the real story through this collection, appropriately titled True Cinderella. —Jolene Turner

IMAGE ABOVE: Cinderella’s hair was thermally set with a double-prong iron in a figure-8 pattern, and combed out for texture. Once hair was parted down the middle, the two back sections were gathered into high ponytails, backcombed, sprayed and pinned into place while the remaining hair was pushed into an asymmetric side pony. Once secured, the ponytail was expanded into shape with a peeling technique.

For Prince Charming, hair was sectioned from the parietals to the crown, disconnecting the top section, while the remaining hair was pulled into a low pony. Hair was curled with a 1¼-inch-barrel iron for a wavy effect. The top section was thermally set, backcombed and manipulated into a double twist. Curled extensions were added as a nod to the 19th century dandy.

IMAGE ABOVE: An evil stepsister comes to life in this style, featuring extensions and a platinum wig that was shaped by backcombing, spraying and rolling long hair before pinning it into shape. Extensions were braided tightly and stretched across the shape for dimension and texture. A spiral-curled side pony was added to emphasize the fairy-tale nature.

IMAGE ABOVE: To create the evil stepmother’s mass of braided buns, gray extensions were sectioned in fours; one section was plaited, while the others were backcombed for texture. The four sections were then braided together, wound into a chignon and pinned securely to the head before they were attached to each other for the final shape. A silvery blonde fringe was added for effect.